'One Ford' puts Australia on world stage

[Road_Warrior]

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25786A001A8C84

Australia now one of three global engineering hubs in Ford's empire

6 April 2011

By BYRON MATHIOUDAKIS

FORD has underlined the key strategic importance of its Australian manufacturing and engineering operations, amid ongoing concerns surrounding falling Falcon sales and its future viability.

Speaking at the launch of the SZ Territory in Canberra this week, Ford Asia Pacific and Africa engineering director Jim Baumbick said the global ‘One Ford’ strategy had fundamentally changed the way the company created vehicles worldwide.

The outcome, he said, was around-the-clock work for Ford’s Broadmeadows and Geelong-based engineers as they created products for both local and international consumption, including a sub-B segment economy car for China that will not be sold in Australia.

The Melbourne-developed T6 Ranger and Figo light car – the latter a runaway success in India, with annual sales exceeding 75,000 units – were singled out as the only examples Ford could talk about now, although “many more projects are under development”, according to Mr Baumbick.

The Ohio-born Michigan resident said one of his main missions since arriving in Australia in 2008 had been melding Ford’s local operations into the global One Ford network while leveraging the Aussie team’s talent, experience and expertise.

“I want to comment on how we are developing products under the One Ford policy and what it means for Australia and Asia Pacific,” he said.

“Our structure prior to 2008 was a very different business model to what we have today. At that time we developed fantastic products like Falcon and Territory … and were successful in the market place.

“But in 2008 the radical departure under One Ford (means big changes for) Australia and Asia Pacific … and our team has been identified as one of the key strategic hubs within the organisation, and so are responsible for all of the design and engineering for all products in the region (defined as APA – Australia, Asia Pacific and Africa, and includes India, China, the whole pacific rim and South America).

“It essentially puts in the investment to develop world-class (vehicles like Territory, Figo and T6) … and the Figo is really only one of the first products to come out of APA activity.

“There are eight key locations where we conduct engineering globally and there are three primary hubs – The Americas, Europe and APA centred here in Australia with a satellite facility in Nanjing China.

“All of these sites obviously operate in a very interconnected way, and One Ford means we don’t work in silos and we don’t work independent stand-alone engineering organisations – there’s a tremendous amount of interplay between the various organisations.

“It is a change in the way we do business, how we connect, discuss and share information globally across the organisation – and that includes Territory, which now benefits from this structure and practice.

“Our prior structure was very much vehicle specific – and while there was a benefit of that in terms of specific focus, there is now more of an opportunity for us to leverage our experience, learning and capabilities across a variety of different product lines … as well as functional disciplines … and it is much more effective and much more efficient.

“And there’s a wonderful natural synergy when you have he same people working on one product – they learn something and then they can immediately apply it to one or two or three products that they are working on simultaneously.

“But it’s not a one-way street. Our knowledge flow works both ways.

“Developing products in Australia is one of the most demanding environments to (do that in) ... and we leverage (Ford Australia’s) learnings – and they’re influencing the way we develop global products simultaneously.

“Doing simultaneous development and taking advantage of the lessons learned also allows us to manage the throughput in our facilities and use our assets most appropriately.

“And as these things are synchronised over time, it has enabled us to fill our factory – and we have been running (our proving ground) under 24 hour conditions because of the amount of work (Ford Australia) has.”

The comments were timed to offset the disastrous March 2011 VFACTS sales registration figures for Falcon.

Later Mr Baumbick described the changes to the upcoming Falcon revamp as “even more impressive” than those on the new midsized SUV.

So far this year FG sedan sales are down a worrying 40 per cent, prompting key Ford Australia personnel to talk up the upcoming Falcon’s changes as “game changing” in one instance.

Due out in October, the facelift will incorporate the liquid injection LPG tech released on the existing car this July, as well as the 2.0-litre Ecoboost four-cylinder turbo petrol engine that one insider confirmed will make the Falcon lighter and more agile than any Falcon of recent times.

Buoying Ford’s optimism are the extremely positive early reviews for the new Territory – especially the long-awaited diesel – while the March VFACTS figures were not all bad news, showing a massive upswing in sales for the Fiesta light car and Mondeo midsizer models, as well as solid performances for the outgoing Territory, Focus small car and Ranger one-tonne ute.

The latter will spearhead further expected volume revivals for Ford as their revamped or all-new successors come on stream.

Sales and marketing boss Beth Donovan told GoAuto that Ford Australia enjoyed combined four-cylinder vehicle success in March is the best since the halcyon days of the ‘bubble back’ KE Laser of the late 1980s – and this is before the arrival of the all-new Focus.

“We are enjoying record sales of Fiesta and Mondeo is going strong,” she said.

Some interesting comments there. As I suspected, FoA is one of only three places globally that can do this sort of work. Interesting to see that South America is included in this "jurisdiction" - I would have thought head office in the US would have taken care of South America's products?

[HULK EF]

HHmm "game changing"??? hope this isnt spin thought up to negate negative press lately.. I realy do hope falcon does well with the next upgrade...

[GTENVY]

Sounds positive, mind you Ford Aus could do with all the positive press it can get atm.

[Gobes32]

Ha ha, at no stage was the word "manufacture" spoken during the whole article. Manufacturing is dead in this country.

[stang65]

very cynical thing to say, how could you think your statement amusing.
Even when we get good news people try to shoot it down.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by stang65

very cynical thing to say, how could you think your statement amusing.
Even when we get good news people try to shoot it down.

Its not just Globes thoughts. When I read the article, I had exactly the same thoughts.

[Gobes32]

It's not good news. It's supposed to be a feel good story but it is too perfectly scripted. Sure they can design and engineer vehicles in Oz, but nowhere in the article does it mention building them here.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

It's not good news. It's supposed to be a feel good story but it is too perfectly scripted. Sure they can design and engineer vehicles in Oz, but nowhere in the article does it mention building them here.

Because its the product engineering manager..not the manufacturing manager. His paid to talk about products and future developments.

Manufacturing is not looking great, but its not all over yet.

And if you dont talk up your future goals and direction why would people buy your product now knowing support might not be fully there?

Personally it wouldn't change my decision...but others think that way.

[stevz]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

Ha ha, at no stage was the word "manufacture" spoken during the whole article. Manufacturing is dead in this country.

Manufacturing is actually mentioned in the first paragraph!

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by stevz

Manufacturing is actually mentioned in the first paragraph!

And:

“And as these things are synchronised over time, it has enabled us to fill our factory – and we have been running (our proving ground) under 24 hour conditions because of the amount of work (Ford Australia) has.”

[stang65]

Bobby when things are tough that's when you have to have the most faith, otherwise they may as well pack everything up now. The fact that they haven`t done that is a plus. It`s not over till the Fat lady sings.

Where would Bob the builder be if he was Bob stuff it I cant be bothered building it.

[Luke Plaizier]

It's OK. Bob is not a team player. He's a loner.

Or a journalist.


Lukeyson

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by stang65

Bobby when things are tough that's when you have to have the most faith, otherwise they may as well pack everything up now. The fact that they haven`t done that is a plus. It`s not over till the Fat lady sings.

Where would Bob the builder be if he was Bob stuff it I cant be bothered building it.

LOL..Ill add thanks to that

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

It's not good news. It's supposed to be a feel good story but it is too perfectly scripted. Sure they can design and engineer vehicles in Oz, but nowhere in the article does it mention building them here.

I'm with you mate .... ask anyone in the know at Ford in Manufacturing and they would give the same response. I know a few.....

[vztrt]

Least this is a positive story about Ford, and not the usual doom and gloom.

Good to see PD has a future. In terms of manufacturing, well we'll see.

[phillyc]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Least this is a positive story about Ford, and not the usual doom and gloom.

Good to see PD has a future. In terms of manufacturing, well we'll see.

Exactly. At least the number of positive stories coming out about Ford is much more than in previous years. Yes, there are still negative stories about. I don't even necessarily care about the context of how/why/etc But, this is a positive story.

Can we all embrace the positive aspects of this positive sharing of Ford news stuff?

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by Luke Plaizier

It's OK. Bob is not a team player. He's a loner.

Or a journalist.
Lukeyson

Come on, I like to think that some of the things I say have a factual basis to them, which basically precludes me from being a journalist.

And I may not come across as an advocate for australian car manufacturing (well not in its current guise anyhow), but seeing how only 10,800 of the 90,000 sales last month come from locally made products, then I guess it sort of precludes me from being a loner also.

I like to use the term realist. I look at simple facts like theres 720 hours in a month, Ford sell 3000 local cars a month, so on average 4 cars an hour is being pumped out at Ford OZ. So when head office is trying to allocate resources to build cars, do they allocate them to the 4 car an hour factory, or do they allocate them to the 1000 car a day (42 cars an hour) factory overseas. Or you look at the Ford supplier, which is now paying 25% of all turnover, in rent, and think is this anything near sustainable.

Then you look back and read articles about how the local car manufacturers were doing it tough years ago when they were pumping out 360,000 cars a year (30,000 a month) because they needed to increase production via export (which was proving hard at $A= US 60 cents), but now that they are making 15,000 cars a month, and things are better (at $A1.04 = $US1).

But I'm not completely ignorant, I do take notice of the 100 or so, repliers who let everyone know they will buy a locally made Ford every 3 years or so, and I feel assured that the extra 33 sales each year, will keep the factory going. I mean who are Ford to allocate Billions of dollars of resources with an aim to achieve maximum return to shareholders, when they could be ****ing of 33 Ford Forum fans each year.

Remember when the australian car industry was collapsing when they were making Dec 2008 = 14678 Jan 2009= 11941 Feb 2009 = 20404 47023 cars in 3 months in the midst of the GFC. You know, that was a time that Deveraux has recently referred to as "near collapse".

Well compare it to the last 3 months Dec 2010 =13007 Jan 2010=12464 Feb 2010 = 17581 43052 cars in 3 months. Dont take my word for it, but I guess sometime in the near future, Deveraux may come out and say the industry is "near collapse plus 10%".

[tommyd]

Couldn't have put it better, well said.

[Joe5619]

Can someone asnwer me this... Not a smart **** questiion, a serious one.

Can Ford Aust still be a R&D source without Mancfacturing?

How can they test anything if they can't build anything?

[Luke Plaizier]

So Bob, what is it that you're doing or hoping to achieve by posting on these forums? You seem to be going out of your way to build a body of evidence to have FoA closed. How is that any different to what the current crop of Journalists are doing - and did with Mitsubishi?

That was an awful big post. You seem to want to push this point a lot. Are people here not receptive enough to your extrapolation of data into the future death of FoA?

What is your solution - other than closure?

Are you just hanging out to say "I told you so.." or do you have some other agenda ?


Lukeyson

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by Luke Plaizier

So Bob, what is it that you're doing or hoping to achieve by posting on these forums? You seem to be going out of your way to build a body of evidence to have FoA closed. How is that any different to what the current crop of Journalists are doing - and did with Mitsubishi?

That was an awful big post. You seem to want to push this point a lot. Are people here not receptive enough to your extrapolation of data into the future death of FoA?
What is your solution - other than closure?
Are you just hanging out to say "I told you so.." or do you have some other agenda ?
Lukeyson

I dont build the evidence, I dont create the facts. They are already out there, and have been created by others. FoA wont close, however one day they may close their local manufacutring. Just like Chrysler did, just like Nissan did, Just like mitsy did (and just so the record shows, these all happened before I started posting on FF). And they will thrive on the 63% of cars they already import.

I dont hate Australian car manufacturing, I just hate incompetant people, who get very high wages being supported by taxpayers (and I'm not talking about the factory floor guys here, I'm talking about the heads etc). Call me stupid, but I dont see the logic in taxpayers supporting a Holden chief (who gets paid $800,000 a year) who thinks theres some logic in making cars and selling them for less than it takes to make them, and your hotel cleaner works her *** off and makes $35,000 a year. I hate Politicians who waste taxpayers money, not to achieve anything special, but just to achieve votes. I hate thinking that some people think they have a right to express their views (look in the mirror), and dont expect someone to dissent.

But what I really hate most is when 8 pack choc wedges are on sale at the supermarket, and the wife doesnt buy up big time. I havent yet been able to link her lack of understanding in this area, to australian car manufacturing, but boy oh boy, I can assure you I will let you know when I do.

[stang65]

Going by that line you may as well fire every CEO in the country and then who is going to run the business to make money. Get rid of all the politicians, lawyers etc. Nobody goes out there to lose money. It`s called business do you think you can run the company better?

[Luke Plaizier]

So there's the agenda. Lack of government subsidising of large corporate Choc Wedge supply.

Given that you're well versed on the topic, I was wondering if you could provide some understanding of whether manufacturers in places like China, Germany, Japan and the US provide any government assistance to their manufacturers. Are there any non-tarrif barriers to shipping cars directly to these countries for sale? Whether the cleaner at the Ford Oz factory is any less worthy of having a job than a hotel cleaner? Or whether the families of Ford Employees deserve to eat Choc Wedges too?

I'd go for the Almond Magnums myself. Imported they taste much better and are of much better quality. Locally made Choc Wedges are not profitable enough, no one buys them any more, the stick in them is the same stick that was made in the 1960's, and the factory should be shut down.


Lukeyson

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Can someone asnwer me this... Not a smart **** questiion, a serious one.

Can Ford Aust still be a R&D source without Manufacturing?

How can they test anything if they can't build anything?

Testing would be done at the proving ground. They don't need the manufacturing plant in Oz to actually design a vehicle. The biggest issue is when they are setting up the plant for a new model, but they would have production engineers working with the guys in Melbourne to get it right.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Testing would be done at the proving ground. They don't need the manufacturing plant in Oz to actually design a vehicle. The biggest issue is when they are setting up the plant for a new model, but they would have production engineers working with the guys in Melbourne to get it right.

PD don't need Manufacturing or Assembly. HOWEVER, they use a lot of the knowledge base of the guys that build cars to help with their projects !!

In the end though, a guys sits at a computer and designs a vehicle (component), Proto parts are made my hand at PD or outside the organisation. Testing is done at the proving ground, and very early mules can be built by hand at PD.

BTW: If manufacturing goes so will Assembly - there is seriously no money in CKD unless the Government pays for it.....

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Barraxr8

PD don't need Manufacturing or Assembly. HOWEVER, they use a lot of the knowledge base of the guys that build cars to help with their projects !!

In the end though, a guys sits at a computer and designs a vehicle (component), Proto parts are made my hand at PD or outside the organisation. Testing is done at the proving ground, and very early mules can be built by hand at PD.

BTW: If manufacturing goes so will Assembly - there is seriously no money in CKD unless the Government pays for it.....

However to design, engineer, test and validate vehicles at the level they have with the T6 for example (a massive global project worth probably over a billion dollars to the local economy in itself) it would rely on the "built in" manufacturing expertise and facilities that can really only be delivered with a setup like Ford has here. Like it says in the article, Australia is one of only 3 places within Ford globally that can do it. That statement in itself speaks volumes.

Speaking of the T6, I wonder how the SUV is coming along? Havent heard (or seen) a peep about it since the announcement, I would have thought mules would be out there by now.

[tezxr8man]

Come on Bob you don't need an 8 pack, thats just greedy and there is no need to be cranky,
Seriously tho you have some good pints and unfortunately they are true but governments all over the world give the car companies a hand. Look at GM in the states, But at the moment, with the market being flooded by imported cars from countries with a weaker dollar and therefore cheaper offerings the local guys can't compete. The Government that is helping the locals buy not limiting the imports at least a little bit really is slowly killing it
Too many free trade agreements with other countries to offload the minerals from the mining boom real quick will kill us twice when they run out because they've helped make our manufacturing uncompetitive

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

However to design, engineer, test and validate vehicles at the level they have with the T6 for example (a massive global project worth probably over a billion dollars to the local economy in itself) it would rely on the "built in" manufacturing expertise and facilities that can really only be delivered with a setup like Ford has here. Like it says in the article, Australia is one of only 3 places within Ford globally that can do it. That statement in itself speaks volumes.

Speaking of the T6, I wonder how the SUV is coming along? Havent heard (or seen) a peep about it since the announcement, I would have thought mules would be out there by now.

Exactly. Ford started out here in 1925, assembling Model T's, which lead to manufacturing. And other companies followed suit.

This has translated into 86 years of automotive ability in this unique country of ours. Maybe more... utilising the skills learned and pioneered by Aussies. Tuning and developing vehicles for our very particular island... and it's crappy roads. All of which now is sought after, and leveraged by Ford in global development.

So manufacturing no matter how big... is important to the unique talent we produce, and use in vehicles all around the APA, and the world. Of which the APA is expected to grow rapidly, and Ford intend to get a share of the action... using Australia as it's forward base for the attack. Ford understand this. And if a RWD falcon does go the way of the dodo... at least what comes next will need Aussie know-how, and tuning for it's market.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Speaking of the T6, I wonder how the SUV is coming along? Havent heard (or seen) a peep about it since the announcement, I would have thought mules would be out there by now.

It would more than likely be in the planning stages atm, the project was only announced a few months ago and the T6 hasn't been totally finished yet, they would be in the final stages.

Even if they have cobbled together mules they would only be at the proving grounds, transported out there inside closed trucks.